Not a Roadmap for Peace: Erdoğan's Democratisation Package Defies Kurdish Expectations

Abstract

Despite Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's emphasis to the contrary, the "democratisation package" announced on September 30 was expected to be more than just another bundle of EU-induced reforms. The much-awaited package came nearly a year after the initiation of informal peace talks between the government and Abdullah Öcalan – the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organisation by the EU and the US – and six months after Öcalan made a historic call to his fighters to end the armed struggle. The package was anticipated as the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government's response to Öcalan's three-stage road map for peace. Yet, rather than legislative changes for a political settlement on the Kurdish question, Erdoğan announced a generic harmonisation package, a move which has put into question his government's commitment to the peace process. The fragility of the cease fire between the PKK and the Turkish military and the urgency of radical reforms to prevent a deadlock in the peace process render the AKP's piecemeal approach to democratisation too costly at this point in time. With the EU's opening of negotiations on Chapter 22 on regional policy, which pertains to decentralisation in governance and is thus relevant for a political solution to the Kurdish question, there is a real and urgent need for European policy makers to be involved in the peace process in Turkey.